Nicolas Chouity: eliminated all but one of his opponents at the final table
PICTURE: Neil Stoddart$22 qualifier wins $1.7m at EPT Grand Final
QUALIFIER Nicolas "niccc" Chouity scooped €1.7 million at the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo - he'd won his seat to the event in a $22 rebuy tournament onPokerStars.
Chouity, 23, from Beirut, Lebanon, dominated the final and eliminated all but one of his opponents. He beat Austrian Josef Klinger heads-up to win the €10,600 event. He is only the second Lebanese EPT champion since Joseph Mouawad won EPT London in Season 4.
Chouity came 50th at last season's Grand Final for €31,000. He also cashed at EPT Berlin this year and has won numerous online tournaments. The winner came toMonte Carlo with a 30-strong group of poker friends. With only one casino in the whole country, the Lebanese poker community is very close and all are regulars at Casino du Liban's twice-weekly poker tournaments.
"It's a dream come true. I feel great," Chouity said. "I had confidence coming into the final and I had the chip lead but you never know with poker and I was going for first, only first."
As Chouity was winning the Grand Final Main Event, his friend Dori Yacoub, also from Lebanon, was busy dominating the €25,000 High Roller event taking place a few metres away.
The EPT Grand Final Main Event attracted 848 players from 51 countries. The total prize pool was €8,480,000. Some of the best players in the world turned up to the glamorous principality of Monaco for a week-long poker festival which featured 24 different events.
Among the many celebrity names contesting the Main Event were French tennis champion Gael Monfils, making his debut in the PokerStars logo, tennis legend Boris Becker, NHL star Mats Sundin and Olympic hockey champion Fatima Moreira de Melo as well as ex-footballer Teddy Sheringham.
Dozens of big-name players took part in the end of season highlight in the Salle des Etoiles of Le Sporting at the Monte Carlo Bay Resort. Famous poker names included Daniel Negreanu, current world champion Joe Cada, former world champions Peter Eastgate, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker as well as defending Grand Final champion Pieter de Korver.
